Green Man

Well, as promised, here he is in all his glory. He's a doleful character, benevolent, He is needle felted in a slight relief.

He represents my love and trust of nature, trust, yes, because I do believe even with all this talk about global warming mother nature will see us through and hopefully correct the worst of the man made effects we might experience.

Having said all this, we should be doing our part, I was listening to local radio last night and they were talking about the low energy light bulbs. Apparently we should be very wary of these because they can be quite a hazard. There was some serious research done in Australia and it is said that they can be difficult to dispose of. They have warned us that down under they are not allowed to put them in the normal bins. That they need to be taken down to the local authority disposal to be put in a special bin. How many road miles is this going to cost the planet? Also that if a bulb breaks you are meant to ventilate and leave the room for at least 20 mins and they pieces must be picked up wearing rubber gloves and on no account hoover the floor. This does not sound eco friendly to me, does it you? The bulbs contain mercury and phosphorus. It was said that none of these hazards have been printed on the box, great isn't it.

Well, there must be other ways to keep this planet turning. Personally I would like to know why our governments have not issued everyone with solar panels years ago, it will be as at least sustainable as our planet is. After all, if the Sun isn't there, we won't be anyway! When these low energy light bulbs are forced on us in about 5 years when they will become compulsory who will gain from it? The planet, the people or the manufacturer's. Does our government really believe in these products or are they just paying lips service to the idea of being green?

Well, I couldn't put my green man on here without having a moan about green issues. It was the theme of my dissertation whilst I was studying for my art degree. Many artists feel the same as I do and there are many artists all over the world who are either campaigning or making art about green issues, there are even some who are really getting involved in the whole process of recycling.

In our household we do our bit. We recycle all our kitchen waste for our garden, we even tear up cardboard boxes and put them into the composter; it all goes back to the earth, it just takes a little time. We are quite aware of how much difference it makes as we don't have wheely bins where we are and we have to put our rubbish out in black bin liners so we try to limit how much goes into them. You would be surprised at what a difference a compost can make to the quantity of rubbish you throw away in the bin. Try it and see and watch your garden grow at the same time. Oh well, must get on, pop back soon and see what else I've been up to. Bye for now.